When information first broke that pop star Ariana Grande and her Wicked costar Ethan Slater had been an merchandise in July 2023, Slater’s estranged spouse Lilly Jay described the connection with a number of selection phrases. Grande “isn’t a girl’s girl,” Jay instructed Page Six. “My family is just collateral damage.” The former couple has one son collectively. Now, greater than a 12 months of Wicked-mania later, Jay, a scientific psychologist, has printed a prolonged essay for The Cut about what occurred when her private life turned tabloid fodder.
Jay writes that Slater was her “high-school sweetheart,” and for years, she averted social media. As Slater started to work as an actor, the divergence between their chosen careers grew stark. “It was a tenuous balance—my profession, which requires privacy, and his, which is measured in applause—but it worked well while life was unfolding according to our plans,” she writes. Ahead of filming for Wicked, Jay moved to London with Slater and their then two-month-old son. “Consumed by the magic and mundanity of new motherhood, I didn’t understand the growing distance between us.”
Jay wrote that she and Slater have labored out a co-parenting relationship, however the promotional cycle for Wicked wore on her. “While our partnership has changed, our parenthood has not. Both of us fiercely love our son 100 percent of the time, regardless of how our parenting time is divided,” she stated. “As for me, days with my son are sunny. Days when I can’t escape the promotion of a movie associated with the saddest days of my life are darker.”
Wicked: Part One opened in theaters on November 22, incomes $114 million in its opening weekend, however the promotional tour is ongoing. On Monday, Universal Pictures introduced that the sequel would formally be titled Wicked: For Good, and is ready to be launched in November 2025. As for Slater and Grande, their relationship remains to be going sturdy. Earlier this week, Grande took to Instagram to reply with a coronary heart emoji to a black-and-white photograph Slater shared from a photograph shoot with UK-based Schön Magazine. In one other remark, she added that Slater is “the Buster Keaton of today!”
Representatives for Slater and Grande didn’t instantly reply to Vanity Fair.